Just Braise

Back in June, I saw the place when it was still under construction and was waiting till for its doors to open. I believe sometime in July it did but I never frequented that area to check until I got word about it from a friend.

Finally, my sister, her husband, and I decided on a day to try out the place. I don’t know of many sandwich/burger/milkshake places in Oakville (I don’t eat out that much in Oakville to begin with), so I was eager to try this place.

Prior to arriving, I looked at the menu beforehand on their website. I was salivating. Everything sounded amazing. But, it had me at the kimchi items. It could be my current craving of Korean food though. Still, if I had the stomach (and money), I’d order the entire menu 😉

—–

The place is quite small but it’s got a modern, rustic feel to it. I particularly loved the art piece hung on the wall and the geometric lights. The designer in me was geeking out over those.

—–

Since I was going with my sister and her husband, we decided to just share everything. We ordered the following:

Meatloaf Taco Night Sandwich

Beef + Kimchi Sandwich with a side of Texas Chili

Pho Beef Banh Mi Sandwich with a side of Texas Chili

Kimchi Bap Poutine

Coffee + Cookies Milkshake

Tiramisu Milkshake

and the Fried Ricotta Donut Bites.

(I know, this sounds like a lot but it’s between three people!)

As shown in the menu above, the sandwiches are all $7.95 each. If you want a side, it’s $10.95 together (Sides are $4.95 each).

Meatloaf Taco Night Sandwich

From the menu, this sandwich contains “chorizo spiced meatloaf, house salsa, onions, shredded lettuce, ancho chilli sauce.”
I didn’t get a before shot (In a rush to eat) but it looks like how a taco is — messy. It may be messy but it tasted great. The spices from the meatloaf with the salsa and ancho chilli sauce combined added a pack of flavours. The meatloaf was so soft that you didn’t have to chew much. It didn’t have that mushy texture but it was like a hybrid of meatloaf and taco beef. Would recommend this if you’re in the mood for something Mexican.

Beef + Kimchi Sandwich

This sandwich contains “braised beef, kimchi, spicy Korean sauce, sweet soy, scallions.”
The beef in this is was cooked nicely. It was soft and didn’t involve a lot of chewing.

It didn’t exactly melt in your mouth but it didn’t require much effort to eat it. The kimchi with the spicy Korean sauce and sweet soy gave the sandwich the right amount of sweet, spicy punch. It was exactly what I wanted from this sandwich. Too bad we only ordered one. I must say though, the kimchi in this sandwich was spicier than the Kimchi Bap Poutine we ordered. But, out of all kimchi sandwiches/burgers I’ve had, this one is the best so far.

Pho Beef Banh Mi Sandwich

Anyone close to me knows how much I don’t like eating pho or Banh Mi sandwiches. It’s because I’ve had them all the time growing up and I just got sick of it. I mean, once in awhile I’ll crave pho but it’s a rare occasion. But we ordered this because it was different. It combined to iconic Vietnamese foods in one!

I was quite shocked with how accurate the taste was! The beef was cooked well – it was soft and actually made me want pho. The garlic mayo didn’t have much garlic taste but I preferred it over the regular Vietnamese mayo. The combo of the pho beef and the Banh Mi toppings really went well together. I’m surprised I’ve never had something like this before. Honestly, I think this sandwich is my favourite one of the three I tried. Surprising, right?! I highly recommend it.

Texas Chili

On the menu, this chili has “ground beef, veg, spices, scallions, cheddar.”
Truthfully, out of all the items we tried, this was the runt of them all. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t anything special. It needed more spice to give a nice kick. Everything else we had was loaded with flavours that this lacked it. Here’s a tip: Order one of the kimchi items and add the kimchi to it. Gives you that flavour punch I’m talking about. The ground beef in it was good but again, more spice would have sealed the deal.

For all the sandwiches, the same kind of bread was used. I don’t know what kind but it was soft, not dry, and nicely toasted.

Kimchi Bap Poutine

I love kimchi and a good poutine. The menu describes this with “garlic mayo, spicy Bap sauce, kimchi, scallions.”
Not sure how to make sense of this but the kimchi didn’t taste like kimchi but pickled vegetables, even though that’s kind of what kimchi is. But if you’ve ever had Chinese pickled vegetables, that’s what it tasted like. As I previously mentioned, the kimchi didn’t taste like the sandwich equivalent. I think it’s because it had a pickled taste and wasn’t as spicy as the sandwich one. But, I still enjoyed it. The kimchi complemented the garlic mayo and spicy Bap sauce well. To be honest, it wasn’t as spicy as the sandwich but it sweet and tangy. The fried were cooked well. Nicely fried and a soft inside. They weren’t too thick of a cut but not skinny either. The flavours overall blended well in this dish – nothing overpowered.

Coffee + Cookies and Tiramisu Milkshakes

(I forgot to take a photo of the milkshakes individually but you can see them in the photos above.)

To be honest, they tasted the same. When the server gave us the milkshakes, we tried to remember which one was which but that went of the window almost immediately. Then we tasted them both to differentiate. I don’t know if we were successful but we assumed the visible Oreo-looking cookie bits was the Coffee + Cookies one. Both milkshakes weren’t overly sweet and not as thick as I assumed them to be. Both had a more viscous layer on top but I assumed it was because of how hot it was, so it was probably melting. They were both tasty but they just tasted the same. So if you’re going to share two milkshakes, don’t get these two together.

Fried Ricotta Donut Bites

Anyone that knows me knows I LOVE doughnuts. When I saw these on the menu, I knew I had to get them. There was no description found on the board or on the site but it sounds self explanatory.
The doughnut bites come with a side of what appears to be jam. The jam tastes like strawberry but don’t take my word for that. The jam is sweet but nothing special. I actually would have preferred a more syrup-like sauce to complement the doughnut bites but this was sufficient.

The doughnut bites came in a pack of six and were nicely fried and topped with powdered sugar. The inside was light and fluffy. You couldn’t taste the ricotta but you could tell that’s what gave the airiness to the doughnut bites. It also wasn’t that sweet but kind of refreshing, if you can say that for a doughnut. I actually enjoyed how light it was for a change. I’m usually the one going towards a decadent doughnut but this was a nice change of pace. Would definitely order again.

—–

Well, that was a lot of food for one sitting but it was great food. Like I said, I don’t eat out much in Oakville but it’s actually difficult to find good food with an inexpensive price. Usually a sandwich/burger with a side in Oakville is already $15 but this was just above $10! Plus, it tasted even better than most places I’ve had! I call that a steal.

The staff were really friendly. Both the server and chef checked up on us more than once and the server asked if we wanted the doughnut bites after the other items, which I thought was very considerate.

I wish I could have asked the chef about some of the items and about the place in general but we got there around 7:15pm and the place closed at 8pm. We were the only customers remaining and left just a bit before 8pm and didn’t want the staff to stay any later than needed.

Honestly, I’m really impressed with everything. For everything that we ordered it was about $60 worth of food. In Oakville, that’s pretty average and the food actually tasted great. It feels like a hidden gem that you’d find in Toronto but it’s in Oakville instead. I’m glad that it’s in Oakville because then I don’t have to travel far for good, inexpensive eats.

If you’re ever in Oakville, please try this place out. You won’t be disappointed!